ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The opportunity to go short on Amazon.com (AMZN) was short-lived. Just last week I pointed out how AMZN triggered a post-earnings short again. I missed the first breakdown and was looking to play a second move down. It was not to be. Instead, on Monday, AMZN flipped back into bullish territory. I followed suit by … Read more
On May 18th, I wrote that Amazon.com (AMZN) had triggered a post-earnings short by closing below the low of trading in the immediate aftermath of the last earnings report (at $220). However, I did not recommend pulling the trigger because the market was oversold at the time. Surprisingly, AMZN did not benefit from the market’s … Read more
It seems Friday’s stalemate was indeed a demonstration of Apple buyers finally putting up a fight. Apple’s stock is still in a short-term downtrend, but the trading action has been electrifying almost the entire way down. The wild swings and near symmetry of the move downward are the kind of “art” that only a chart … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on May 18, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) Amazon.com (AMZN) reported earnings April 26th and soared in the after-hours about 22%. At the time, I decided to call an “audible” on the AMZN post-earnings play and avoid the trade … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on May 17, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) The past three earnings cycles have delivered some tremendous post-earnings successes in stocks like Amazon.com (AMZN), priceline.com (PCLN), Best Buy (BBY), and Apple (AAPL). J.C. Penney (JCP) broke my streak in … Read more
When Shutterfly (SFLY) reported earnings on April 30th, the company provided guidance for a larger Q2 loss than analyst expectations. Despite this disappointment, the stock opened the next day with an amazing 9% gain. Unfortunately, trading has been all downhill from there. SFLY closed the day losing all its gains, and it was even trading … Read more
I last wrote about J.C. Penney (JCP) in March right after an ominous breakdown below its 50-day moving average (DMA) (see “Put Buyers Rush Into J.C. Penney As The Stock Breaks Down“). I soon joined the surge of put volume that occurred around that time, and the trade ended well. JCP eventually erased all its … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on April 8, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) In early March, I took Skullcandy (SKUL) off my buy list of stocks with insider buying activity because the CFO, who was the main insider buying shares, resigned from the company … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on March 30, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) After traders packed up for the weekend, Groupon (GRPN) issued two warnings during the evening of March 30th. First, Groupon discovered it under-estimated its refund rate for the previous quarter. As … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on March 10, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) Department store J.C. Penney (JCP) caught my attention because of its relative underperformance two days in a row. As the S&P 500 has rallied back from a sharp one-day sell-off, JCP … Read more